Chapter 354 Britain Will Never Back Down

Guizot had long been accustomed to the impoverished people. In his heart, the only bottom line that could not be changed was the friendship between Britain and France.

Just like the speech he gave when he took office.

"We don't want to talk about conquest, war and revenge. Let France prosper, let it be free, rich, smart and carefree - we will not regret that it has no impact on world events."

Now this road of colonial expansion was not actually designed by Guizot alone. He hoped to develop France's own market potential in exchange for a stable external environment.

However, the world is a whole. The Austrian Empire joined the German Customs Union, which greatly enhanced its competitiveness, which made France feel the crisis.

After the Spanish Civil War, the regent Queen Christiana offered conditions that the French could not refuse.

During the Texas War, Guizot saw the opportunity and took Texas, which was repeatedly fought over by the United States and Mexico, at a very good price.

He even defaulted on the remaining payment during the Mexican Civil War, saving France a lot of money.

The Texas colony brought a lot of resources and quite good tax revenue to France, and this colony had great potential and was fully expected to become the second France.

Although France lost its exclusive interests in Egypt in the Turkish-Egyptian War in the Near East, it was able to free up more power to establish colonies around the world with the end of the Spanish Civil War.

Invasion of Algeria, invasion of Morocco, competition with the Austrian Empire for West Africa, competition with Britain for East Africa, division of the Central American Federation, and joint development of Asian colonies with Spain

Unconsciously, France has gone further and further on the road of colonialism, but this has indeed injected strong vitality into France at this time, allowing it to quickly recover from the economic crisis.

However, what François Guizot is most concerned about is the Franco-Belgian Customs Union. Although Belgium has just been independent from the Netherlands for more than a decade, it is the second fastest growing country in Europe, with an annual growth rate of more than 20%.

(The first is Luxembourg, but it is too small and has little reference value.)

Guizot hopes that by making concessions, Britain can accept the Franco-Belgian Customs Union to counter the increasingly powerful German Customs Union.

If Britain is still likely to make concessions on the Argentine issue, then there is no way to talk about the Low Countries.

(The Low Countries refer to the Netherlands, that is, the Netherlands and Belgium.)

Britain will resolutely fight back against any behavior that may threaten the British mainland or undermine its glorious independent status, and this time is no exception.

As soon as the British cabinet received the news, it reached a consensus internally that the Franco-Belgian Customs Union must not be established. Because if it is allowed to run wild, it will not only revive Napoleon's ghost, but also directly threaten Britain's core interests.

Palmerston still clamored for war as usual. Although the British have been on the back foot recently, they are undoubtedly the most powerful country in the world at this time.

The Battle of Kabul, the Battle of Pangong Lake, the Indian Ocean tsunami, and the successive defeats forced Britain to transfer troops from its homeland to fill the gap in its military strength in the South China Sea.

At this time, the North Sea Fleet and the defense forces of the British mainland were both in a relatively weak period, and what was even more fatal was the domestic workers' movement, which was the famous "Charter Movement".

Britain was the first to industrialize, with the largest number of workers and the strongest power. Although Queen Victoria, who had just ascended the throne, used her personal charm to resolve the crisis, due to objective factors, the promise made by the Queen could not be fulfilled at all.

So, the workers were organized again to seek their rights and interests. This time, Victoria simply quit the job. As she grew older, she was tired of those stupid and two-faced politicians.

At the same time, the Queen also met the love of her life, Prince Albert, and the two preferred to enjoy the good times together rather than deal with tedious state affairs.

In fact, both of them had certain political skills, but the British system and the politicians in power at the time were indeed strong, so they could only choose to settle for the second best.

The complex situation and huge pressure at home and abroad almost made the cabinet members unable to raise their heads, and the Prime Minister, Viscount Melbourne, had to convene Parliament to put Guizot's proposal to Parliament for a vote.

Fortunately, all parties in the UK were surprisingly unanimous on the issue of the Franco-Belgian Customs Union, and voted unanimously against France's establishment of a legal currency customs union.

However, there was a serious disagreement on the issue of the Viceroyalty of La Plata. Most members of parliament opposed the threat of force in this matter because Britain had too many enemies, including Russia, France, Austria, the ancient empires in the East, and the barbaric indigenous tribes in Oceania and Africa.

Most of them opposed it because Russia was the biggest threat to Britain's world hegemony, but Palmerston did not think so.

"Gentlemen, please be quiet! Russia is a potential huge threat to Britain. They will threaten the Near East, Central Asia, and may even occupy Afghanistan, cross the Hindu Kush Mountains, and invade our India!

But! Gentlemen! Please believe me, no one in the world knows Russia better than me! They have no outlet to the sea at this time, which means they cannot pose a real threat to us!"

Palmerston's words hit the point, and he deserved to be the man who knew Russia best. But the members of parliament would not agree to use force to threaten France just because the threat from Russia was small, he said immediately.

"But the French have already set sail! They want to compete with us for North America! Africa! India! Central America! Now they want to compete with us for South America! Faced with such an opponent who wants to compete with us for the world, should the British Empire choose to retreat?!"

"My answer is never!"

(Never! Never! Never!, the English context is actually quite touching.)

Palmerston's words ignited the passion of the parliamentarians, and there was only one voice in the parliament at this time.

"The British Empire will never retreat!"

Of course, with the communication conditions at that time, a series of events will happen within a few months. Britain has drawn the main force of the West African fleet to support South America and brought 6,000 British soldiers.

However, it was not to attack the French army, but to protect the expatriates and the legal property of Britain. After all, most of the leaders of both sides had experienced the Napoleonic Wars and understood the cruelty of war and its terrible destructive power.

And they were all old swindlers, waiting for the other side to come to negotiate with them.

At this time, the sky of Spain was once again shrouded in the clouds of civil war. Although the Regent Queen Christiana had been deprived of most of her rights by the French, she was still not a peaceful person.

Regent Queen Christiana was a woman of extravagance. Although she gave up her power, she would not give up the opportunity to enjoy material things.

On the one hand, Christiana looked for a large number of young and beautiful men and bought gold, silver and jewelry for her own enjoyment. On the other hand, she borrowed heavily in the name of her daughter and the royal family, but she was unable to repay and did not want to repay.